Eternity
by Little Kunai
Summary: This is a story of a dark obssession gone horribly wrong. Saso/Ten
1. Act One Observations

**Eternity**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto_

_Dedicated to daydrifter, who previewed this first chapter for me. _

_Act One _

_Observations_

_When I first saw her I knew I had to have her. Graceful, lithe, flawless, sheer poetry to watch. Small, well-formed muscles slid under velvety pale skin. Clear, chocolate eyes calculating the distance, a flurry of metal weapons hit their mark, body moving with precision. Sharing an intimacy with her weapons that only a true master would know. Twirling her body in the air, watching the dizzying, hypnotic spin of red and white bulls-eyes, inner-balance and strength, every single inch of her all perfectly keyed to strike as she released a shower of stars. Then she touched as lightly as a bird to the ground, eyes sparkling, a radiant smile forming on her sweaty face. I must have her!_

_My obsession for her grew daily. I came back and watched her, believing it to be the desire for a new puppet. Deidara, my partner, was beginning to get impatient with my frequent visits to Konoha. "Again Sasori no danna? What's your obsession with the kunoichi un?" He scoffed. I turned to look at Deidara, and then back at her. Her exposed shoulders were burnt red by the sun. I scowled, I didn't like that at all. Much preferring her usual ivory tones. It marred her perfection, and I couldn't stand imperfection. It was noon now, and the kunoichi had been practicing since daybreak. I watched as a little breeze came dancing through the leaves to play with her bangs and cool the sweat off her brow. After one last look, I regretfully got up and left. Ignoring my partner's constant stream of chatter. _

_As my eyes slid shut that night, the sight of her dancing with her weapons appeared in my mind. Dancing, fighting, bleeding, laughing. I could see her smile, gritting her teeth in fierce determination, frowning at something her teammate said, head cocked curiously to the side as she listened to her sensei. Brown buns and sun burnt shoulders. When I saw her face, my heart skipped a beat and I could feel a nervous jittery feeling, like wings lightly fluttering on the inside of me. My eyes snapped open and I wondered at the curious sensations. I looked over at Deidara to question him about it, but he was already asleep, his soft snores filling the warm night air. I sighed and rolled over. Such feelings were foolish anyways, and were to be discarded instead of indulged in._

_Determined to discard her from my mind, I decided to put as much distance as possible between myself and this girl who had caught my attention. I was growing disturbed when I had realized that I had never wanted her as a puppet, regardless of what I told myself. For when I saw a prime candidate I always saw myself in the background. Pulling the strings and controlling every move, working as intimately with them as the weapons mistress worked with her weapons. With her I couldn't see myself controlling her with chakra strings at all, and yet I wanted her, desired her presence, it had at some point become almost like a madness, even though by many peoples' standards I am already considered mad. She began to make me feel confused and frustrated. After all, what good were incredibly talented shinobi save as puppets, opponents, or temporary allies? Yet I couldn't see myself fighting her either, nor could I see her as an ally. I simply wanted her. Why? I wondered. I shook my head at the strangeness of it all. Deidara was glad to finally be leaving, but he quickly got angry with my change in attitude, for I had gotten surlier towards him then usual._

_At first the distance satisfied me. But in the quiet hours of the night, the burning need to be as close to her as I possibly could began to drive me mad. Every moment her images were burned into my mind, haunting me, hounding me, nipping at my heels and never allowing me a moment's peace. I got up and paced, I sat down and tried to meditate, I practiced with my puppet to divert my mind into fresh channels, but that didn't help either, since I found that my puppet was moving in a poor imitation of the kunoichi. Frustrated I tried again and again, trying to transfer her movements out of my mind and into the puppet. "Again! Again!" I commanded silently. The hulking puppet seemed crude and clumsy in comparison to her unearthly flight. The girl never seemed to want to touch the ground! I could not capture my object of desire in his movements, a childish frustration overtook me and I nearly gave into the impulse to smash the puppet into pieces._

_I took deep calming breaths. "It is not the puppet's fault." I reminded myself. "The puppet is only as good as the puppeteer. I simply have to work at it." I cocked my head in thought; releasing the puppet, I took my scratched out headband and tied it around my eyes. I reconnected the chakra strings and saw her in my mind. When I had her firmly in place, I began to move the puppet. I started slowly and jerkily at first, cautiously feeling my way as I visualized how she walked and stood, communicating her images to the puppet in front of me. A hand on the hips, head cocked, knee bent. I moved it into a crouch, then into a low, wide-legged stance, shuriken behind her back before her powerful muscles propelled her into the air, spin around, shuriken flying. A startled cry brought me out of my trance. I brought the puppet back to the ground and released the strings before lifting my headband and staring at my angry and frightened partner. Following his gaze I saw why he was so angry, for several of the shuriken had come very close to Deidara's head. "You trying to kill me un?" Deidara growled, a warning was evident in those blue eyes. _

_For a second I was actually tempted to say yes, but I answered him truthfully. "No, I was practicing." He snorted and went back to sleep, several kunai and his clay bags were by his hands. I was not pleased to have been interrupted, but it seemed the only way I could truly begin to learn her movements were by blindfolding myself. Deidara, I knew, began to watch; in part because it fascinated him, in part because he feared stray weapons hitting him in the middle of the night. He recognized some of the signature moves after a while, even though they were nowhere close to the original. (Though I reminded myself that it took a great deal of patience to create a masterpiece) and even went to the trouble to retrieve information about the kunoichi for me. I had finally learned the object of my obsession's name. Tenten, her name was Tenten. I scoffed at the name. The name seemed plain and even ridiculous for an artist of her caliber! I think I would have preferred for her to have remained nameless. For Tenten was indeed an artist. Her art included movement, metal, perfect accuracy and blood. It was a fatal dance, for she was as graceful as a ballerina and as deadly as a krait. _

"_Why not just get it out of your system Sasori yeah?" Deidara asked, breaking into my thoughts. There was a sly look on his face that I had never understood, but had seen before. _

"_Hmm? Get what out of my system?" I asked in confusion. Deidara took a moment to blow a lock of hair out of his face. I watched him roll his eyes, that mischievous smirk growing even wider as though he were speaking about some great secret that I had yet to discover, and that he knew all about. He arched a golden eyebrow and it finally dawned on me. I scoffed at him and turned away angrily. Deidara knew that I couldn't engage in any of _those _sorts of activities. Even if I was capable of it, the idea simply didn't interest me. Whenever we stopped in town for the night, Deidara transformed from psychotic bomber to instant heartthrob. There wasn't a woman for miles who wouldn't vie for his attentions; even enemy kunoichi had come slinking around at odd hours of the night in hopes of seducing him._

"_You don't even know what I want her for." I growled irritably at my younger partner. Deidara smirked, "Another puppet? Her techniques aren't _that _remarkable_._" He said gesturing disdainfully, hoping to draw me into another argument. I huffed, Deidara could never understand that it wasn't her techniques that captivated me, but the way in which she executed those techniques._

_I had no intention of telling Deidara that I was obsessed with Tenten. How could I explain why I felt this way when I didn't even know the answer myself? I had just acknowledged her as a fellow artist in her own way had I not? Perhaps it was the drive to appreciate and understand another's art? To reach out to another artist? That must be the reason for my strange behavior lately! This explanation was the most likely one, and I was sure now that I had figured out the enigma of my compulsions, that they would soon melt away into an insignificant memory that I could shrug off. I was wrong!_

_I left my partner in the middle of the night on an impulse. Slipping swiftly through Kusa, ducking into the vast forests, I was a bit surprised at myself. Impulsive actions were something Deidara did often and something I had scolded him for repeatedly in the past. Deidara, my junior partner, thoughts and actions came quickly into his head, and flitted out again just as quickly. His impulsive nature had often been a source of my ire. As I was thinking about my current partner, my thoughts suddenly turned to my former partner. Orochimaru. One of the legendary Sennin. He had often wondered and whispered about me in his mind, as well as out loud. I could still see the unanswered questions on his eager face. To Orochimaru, I was a medical marvel of sorts. Chakra was generated not just from the spirit, and mind, but from the body as well; from cells and organs, from bone and muscle. How then, with my body gone had I been able to generate chakra at all and with such strength and finesse? He had often asked himself this, muttering under his breath while he paced the floors, itching to dissect me and to see my inner workings. In truth, I was not sure of this myself, I simply knew that I could, and that was all that mattered. I did not need to know the whys and wherefores, as it went to stand that as I could retain my chakra as easily as any human being, so in fact, could my puppets._

_I walked up the side of the building and peered in at where Tenten slept, she was not there, much to my dismay. So I closed my eyes searching for her chakra signature, a bright pulse of pink and yellow and fresh blood red. I smiled then and began to head silently towards a bar, she was there with her friends dressed in an orchid-colored tank top, and a very short pair of black jean shorts. The sun burnt shoulders I had last seen had deepened into a pale, golden tan, a pink-haired girl and a raucous blonde raised their glasses in a toast. _

"_To Tenten! Congrats on making Chunin! Cheers!" She was laughing and toasted her friends heartily before drinking her sake. Her brown eyes sparkled and shone, her normally tight buns were loose and a little sloppy. I was unsure whether or not to find this endearing or irksome. _

"_Tenten I wanted to congratulate you." A pale, long-haired man walked towards her, I recognized the Hyuuga as one of her teammates. She turned towards him, a blush staining her cheeks, her eyes a little brighter, full of admiration and ill-disguised, drunken lust. I turned away, feeling disgust at her behavior and something blooming in my chest. I was furious for no reason I could explain! Why? I had seen them talking and training before. It took me several minutes to register that his hand had been placed on her shoulder, and that his eyes gazed as if in a new appreciation of his teammate; a similar appreciation I had seen in Deidara's eyes when he had caught the attentention of a particularly beautiful woman, and they had responded with the same look Tenten was giving her teammate now. I closed my eyes, feeling the rage exploding in my chest, my hands clenching into fists. I didn't want him anywhere near her! I wanted to rip that boy to shreds, to beat him until he was no longer able to move or to breathe! I hungrily took in deep breaths, willing myself to calm down. When I opened my eyes, I saw another teammate rush over and hug her enthusiastically, causing her to spill her drink on her tank top. She laughed embarrassedly as the flustered man rushed to get as many napkins as he could bring her and apologizing profusely as the other two girls berated him._

_Again, I strongly disliked the casual touch from teammate to teammate, feeling my rage start to rise to the surface again. I simply could not understand why this casual touching angered and hurt me so! I startled a little at that realization. Hurt me? I was hurt by it? How could that be?_

_Her head snapped in my direction and she got up, alert and cautious, reminding me of a doe that knows she's being hunted. I was gone before she even got there. I smiled down at her from the roof, her long legs stepping carefully, muscles tensed, ready to fly off at the slightest provocation or hint of attack. I wondered at my next action, for this was something that Deidara was more likely to do. I flung a single kunai at her and she took off like a bird that had been startled into flight. I was already on the move a fraction of a second before the kunai had left my hand. Sometimes I forgot how swift I was when not encumbered by Hiruko. She leapt into a tree and then bounded onto the roof, kunai at the ready. I was already in full flight myself, fleeing the village as fast as possible. _

_Deidara was waiting for me when the sun came up, "Been to see your little doll again Danna un?" He asked slyly._

_I nodded, and walked in silence for the remainder of the morning, oblivious to Deidara's incessant questioning. We were walking through a town and I spied a brunette smiling at Deidara. He grinned back, winking at her, making suggestions to her with his dark blue eyes. I closed my eyes, shaking my head in irritation at his "playboy antics" when I saw Deidara flirting with Tenten, kissing her, rubbing her shoulder with one hand, while the other hand sipped delicately along the column of her tanned throat. My eyes snapped open and my partner tensed, unsure of what brought the silent rage that roiled and spilled all around the area. The girl backed off quickly, looking frightened at my apparent mental tantrum._

_When we left town, Deidara exploded verbally. "What the hell's your problem Danna un?" He snarled, clenching his teeth and quivering with indignant anger. "You're the one who held us up so you could go play peeping tom on some kunoichi in Konoha!" _

_I lunged at him and Deidara landed a heavy blow, sending me sliding along my back. His belligerence only fed my growing anger, and I rushed towards him again, nearly breaking his jaw with a chakra enhanced punch. Deidara moved into a roundhouse kick and I managed to avoid it. Deidara was surprised, and I was secretly pleased to know that I was not the only one who had forgotten how fast I could be. One good crescent moon kick had him flying through the air, though he recovered quickly, landing on his hands and flipping back on his feet, he flipped and dodged as I came after him, not realizing that this impromptu fight was beginning to relieve the madness that had been plaguing me from the moment I laid eyes on her. One crack of his elbow sent me hurtling towards the ground, though I tucked into a roll and flung three kunai at him, they landed in a tree and he came behind me. Being much taller then I was, he picked me up and slammed my head into the ground. _

_I rolled away and got to my feet, he came at me, fist drawn back and I began a series of rapid punches, sometimes he managed to dodge them, sometimes he did not. Blood and snot dribbling down his face as I landed another heavy punch towards his unguarded eye and he stumbled backwards roaring with pain. When he removed his hand, I saw that his eye was bloodied; he glanced nervously at the stinger which had unfurled and arced over my back like my namesake. "You're a real hypocrite Sasori yeah!" He growled, acknowledging defeat for now. I watched as several large splintered pieces returned to my face and arms, particularly around my eye area._

"_Let's go Deidara." I said quietly, as though the fight had never happened. He humphed and created his bird, flipping me off as he leapt onto its back and soared into the sky. Deidara was another one of them, I realized. Like Tenten he never seemed to want to touch the ground. After a moment, I wearily trudged off after him, feeling more at ease after the brief fight. Deidara wouldn't speak to me for days, which suited me just fine. I preferred the quiet compared to his constant noise and motion. It was a great relief, and my mood lightened considerably._


	2. Act Two Awareness

_Act Two_

_Awareness_

I was busy training, working on hitting the targets for a new technique I was learning on my own, one that I had found in a tattered scroll, deep in the forest in a hollow trunk, on some obscure training grounds I'd never seen before. How it had survived for so many years I don't know, but the style suited me. Gathering chakra to my feet I leapt into the air, flipping myself upside down, I closed my eyes and spun, when I landed again, I was slightly disappointed with myself, but I kept at it, working patiently until I had hit most of the targets, some of the shuriken were still scattered on the ground but I was grinning from ear to ear. I had the feeling that something was out there but, it was probably some small forest creature. I looked up, the training grounds had gotten dark now, I could the chirping of crickets and waved my hand in front of my face to dispel the cloud of gnats, it was time for me to go home.

Early the next morning I met my team and began weapons practice with Lee, since he had expressed a desire to learn. We both had quarter staffs and started things off with a quick series of blocks and thrusts, I began gathering my chakra and leaped over him, my staff aiming for his head. He moved out of the way quickly, and I turned to block him as I landed, Lee was aiming for my head, and I ducked under him thrusting it into his gut. But I knew that it would take more then that to bring down the Taijutsu master. He slid back, not allowing himself to loose his footing and I charged after him, I feinted to the left and then tucked into a roll, and came up behind him swinging down fast, he blocked me just as fast, moving the staff behind him, before pivoting on his foot and facing me, we were locked in a powerful struggle before I kicked him away, or tried to anyways. Lee was too fast, his leg hooked beneath my knee and we both fell to the ground, but I twisted my body pushing off with my good leg and leaped off him.

I had a feeling someone was watching us, and I turned my head, feeling the flash of a chakra signature. Neji felt it too, but before I had time to go investigate I was knocked off my feet by my exuberant teammate and crashed into Neji. I felt sudden displeasure radiating for just a moment. I turned around, accepting Lee's outstretched hand. "Thanks Lee." I said, embarrassed to have been caught off guard. "Sorry Neji." I apologized to the disgruntled Hyuuga genius lying beneath me.

"Next time pay attention." He informed me haughtily. I decided that this was where the displeasure had come from.

This time I took up a katana and I allowed Lee the first move, Lee swung the sword down, and I countered with a high block, taking up the offensive, I swept the sword down, aiming for his left thigh, he blocked it and I began advancing quickly, my sword moving like a blur as began trapping him into a deceptive pattern, swinging the sword left and right so quickly that he was backing towards a root in the ground and had no time to do anything other then try and block me, he tripped on the root and I used the killing blow, but he was too quick and rolled out from the blade, aiming for my head. I ducked under it and began another rapid series of movements, I was everywhere at once, up high, too his side, behind him, the clash of metal against metal was sweet music to my ears, ignoring the reverberation of hard clashing hits, the katana was meant for speed and dexterity.

I flipped over his head, nearly knocking the sword from his hand, he held onto it, I crouched on the ground thrusting my sword and forcing him into the ai., I moved to his right getting kicked hard and pushing off the ground again, I was in front of him, swinging left, swinging down, swinging up, forward thrust, he landed, face streaked with dirt and sweat, barely winded, blood trickling from various cuts on his torn jumpsuit, one particularly big wound was on his calf.

"Very good Lee, your reflexes were a lot quicker this time." He gave a beaming smile and glomped me.

I was at the obscure training grounds again, working to perfect the technique from the Uchiha scroll, I began molding my chakra around me, leaping, hanging upside down like a bat, before spinning wildly, fighting off the disorientation and slight nausea behind my closed eyes, I leapt down, lightly instead of heavily and grinned, this time all but one, then my head snapped, seeing splashes of red in the bushes. Pushing chakra to my feet I flew after the intruder, but there was no one there. I searched for a chakra signature, but there was none to be had, whoever was doing it obviously hadn't wanted to be caught. I was a little aggravated, this beautiful, yet simple grounds had become something like a sanctuary for me, and it felt like it had my space had been rudely breached.

Alert and tense, I gathered up my shuriken and left the area, it was almost lunch time and I was supposed to be meeting Sakura and Ino for lunch, again I felt a surge of displeasure coming from somewhere as I rubbed my aching sun burned shoulders. The feeling of being watched intensified over the next few weeks, as I trained relentlessly for the upcoming Chunin exams. I became paranoid and was constantly scanning the area for unfamiliar chakra signatures, coupled with my nervousness on passing the exams, I became edgy and tense and once had thrown a kunai at someone coming silently behind me in the deepening gloom, Neji caught it in his hand, looking irritated with me, I didn't apologize this time around, I just walked home.

For a while I was more at ease, and I became absorbed in my day-to-day life. One beautiful day, just a week before the final exams I began practicing my technique with Ino, asking her to make some clones of herself and disperse them in different areas, my eyes shut as I sought out her chakra signature, propelling myself into the air I performed the technique and watched as the blue flashes whirled and blurred in my mind's eye, I began releasing kunai here and there, watching the chakra try to dodge, I heard the odd noise they made as they dispelled before landing on the ground, there wasn't a single clone left and Ino herself was pinned to a tree by five shuriken, eyes wide panting heavily, and without a single scratch on her. I was glowing inside with excitement and pride, I was ready, the exercise had calmed me down, and I was sure nothing could spoil my good mood.

_I began looking at the people around me, waiting for our matches. My opponent was a boy from Ame, most of the Genin this year were from Rain, and sixteen of us had made it to the final exams. Three of us were from Konoha, including Kiba and Shino. One boy was from Suna, ten from Ame, and two girls from Kusa. _

_I watched as two Genin from Ame had to fight each other off. One was a girl, with long bright hair, shimmering white, and pale blue eyes. She was a tactician and wove her genjutsu while the boy, with light brown hair, and light green eyes, this one was a hothead and her teammate. A major disadvantage for both, since they were intimate with each other's techniques, at some point he even threw a kunai at the girl, slicing her arm and shattering her concentration, while he began employing clones against her. It was a long drawn out battle, and the girl won but just barely, her cool head and tactical skills had won out over his overconfidence. I suspected that this happened often, judging from the scowl on his face and the taunting smirk on hers, not unlike with Neji and Lee, though he had certainly put up a good fight. _

_Kiba and the puppet nin from Suna were next and their battle was brief but incredibly intense, pumping up the crowds as they clashed. The puppet nin controlled three puppets at once, making him a quadruple threat to Kiba and Akamaru. It ended up in a draw, Kiba and Akamaru got hit by a mild poison, though at the last moment, Kiba managed to knock him out, the medics rushing both boys out of the arena._

"_Our next match will be Tenten from Konoha and Yuga from Ame. Come on down you two." _

_We walked down together and faced each other. I sized him up, he was smaller then me, his head barely coming up to my chin, his hair was gray, his eyes were gray too. He had a smirk on his face, not an overconfident smirk, not an arrogant smirk, but a malicious smirk. I didn't like it at all. I kept two kunai at the ready, and the proctor told us to begin. He began forming hand signs and I let a kunai fly, breaking his concentration when he caught a glimpse of an exploding tag. He melted into water. Damn! It was a water clone! I cursed silently, my other kunai clutched in my hand suddenly clones were everywhere and I began throwing shuriken at them in a panic, but they just kept coming back, I was getting frustrated and fast. _

_Neji watched his teammate, she must have been quite a spectacle as she slashed at absolutely nothing while her opponent sat back and openly laughed at her. She was caught in a genjutsu, and I realized that a clone had walked down in his place with her, for he had appeared moments later, right before the match officially started. _

_I struck down clone after clone, watching them break up and then reform like some kind of weird ooze. "Stop Tenten!" I silently commanded myself. I slowed down my breathing and began to think; suddenly I knew what to do. I closed my eyes and searched for the one whose chakra burned more brightly, his clones had very little chakra, and I saw a large area burning brightly, cutting him off from my battle and at the same time connecting him to it! Genjutsu! I wasn't battling clones after all! I tried breaking the genjutsu but to no avail! _

_His genjutsu was incredibly powerful and-wait! What was that? Was he-I was really mad now! He was standing there laughing at me! Practically doubled over laughing at my attempts to dispel the genjutsu and fight off clones. It was time for my special technique, all the extra training with Ino and Sakura about learning to visualize another's chakra signature had paid off. I grabbed a handful of shuriken from my pouch and leaped into the air, flinging them haphazardly, but then there was a yelp of pain, and most of the crowd had gone silent._

_The genjutsu broken, I took a flash bomb and threw it at him blinding him, and then I rushed in to finish him off! Using my nun chucks I began forcing the blinded boy back, he heard me and was trying desperately to avoid it, he stumbled here, dodged clumsily there and I got him in the ribs, there was a sharp intake of breath as the ribs cracked loudly underneath the cool metal. He began coughing up blood, unable to continue the match._

_I walked back up the stairs, hearing the shocked whispers all around me._

"_Did you see what that girl did?" _

_"Where did she learn a technique like that?" _

_"I haven't seen that move since before the Uchiha clan was slaughtered!" _

_"Has she been stealing techniques from them?" _

_I glanced up, even the Hokage seemed surprised, her eyebrows raised at me as I ascended upwards my teammates. After the exams were officially over and the decisions had been made, I was ecstatic to know that I had been one of the four to be promoted to Chunin! I was questioned about where I learned the technique afterwards, producing the scroll and showing them where I had found it. Since the training grounds were close too, but not officially on Uchiha property, Tsunade allowed me to train there. Only dojos and backyard training grounds were private property, anything else was open for anyone who came upon them, I was vastly relieved at this, and feeling light-hearted again, I walked back to my apartment to get ready for the festivities that were soon to follow. _

_Ino and Sakura had taken me out to a bar to celebrate me becoming a Chunin, "To Tenten! Congrats on making Chunin! Cheers!" we toasted and laughed drinking down sake after sake, my buns had worked themselves loose as we sat and talked, when he approached me. "Tenten I wanted to congratulate you." Neji said, placing his hand on my shoulders. I was surprised at the look on his face! He had never given me or anyone else that look before! It was like he was seeing me in a whole new light, I couldn't help the blush that spread across my face, pale eyes gazing into mine with a burning intimacy and strong need. I felt the tight coils of desire tightening in my stomach, warm and lazy along with the sake, spreading through my limbs as we leaned in closer. The whole world stopped and it was just me and Neji._

_Then I got blasted by a heat of another kind, one quivering with rage and jealousy. I wasn't the only one who felt it, Neji felt it too. I was concentrating hard on it, feeling it slowly fade away when Lee came over. "Congratulations Tenten! I am so happy that you passed the Chunin exams this year!" He tackle hugged me, spilling my drink on me. The jealousy flaring again, though this time it was more muted. "OH! Tenten I am so sorry!" Lee apologized. _

"_Lee! Geez your such a klutz!" Ino complained loudly._

"_I'm sorry Tenten, here lemme get you some napkins-" _

"_Lee it's alright I-" _

_Sakura growled at Lee. "Lee watch it you almost spilled my sake on me! If you ruin this dress I swear I'll-" _

"_Oh! Sakura-chan! My apologies! Here Tenten! I'll help you clean up."_

"_No that's not necessary, it's alright Lee really. I'll just go home and change real fast." _

"_But I ruined your gloriously youthful moment!" Lee cried. _

_I took Lee's hands, "No. No you didn't I'll be right back I promise, kay. Don't worry about it." He didn't look convinced, and I caught Neji's exasperated and amused look out of the corner of my eye. Lee had given me the perfect opportunity to investigate the source of paranoia._

_I stepped out into the warm night air, carefully, cautiously. My eyes scanning the area, searching for whoever was spying on me. Suddenly I sensed someone, I looked up and I was ready to attack, when a kunai came flying somewhere to my right, I leapt into the tree and onto the roof, but they were gone. My drunken state had vanished into thin air as I searched the village, hot on the trail of that nameless someone. _

_For days afterwards, I no longer sensed the presence of watchful eyes, peering at me from the underbrush, though I did sense very faint traces of unknown chakra around my apartment._

_I began to dream, dreams of red hair, and brown eyes, and accompanying those dreams was a feeling of loss and terror. I woke up every night in a cold sweat, body trembling, and my breathing harsh, I never saw the full face, just eyes and hair. Those eyes were empty, as though devoid of life, like a-like a doll's eyes, or a mannequin's perhaps, I couldn't understand why those eyes disturbed me so much! They were cold and dead almost, like there was nothing alive behind it, but at the same time, there was. Always watching me, rarely blinking, emotionless, chilling, there was a bad feeling in my gut after the dreams started, intensifying everyday. _

_It subsided for a while when we left Konoha to escort a minor lord back to Suna, but it came back full force when a badly injured ANBU rushed into the Hokage's office while we were debriefing. He was burned all over, blood trickling from his nose and mouth, skin blackened, heat blisters on his exposed skin, uniform scorched, and hair missing in chunks. "Lady Hokage, there are two Akatsuki moving across our borders! My entire team was killed in the blasts. We need back up quickly!" _

"_Lady Hokage we will be back-up!" Said Gai. Neji and Lee looked at each other, I knew they were itching for a real mission. I had a feeling something bad was going to happen, and I clenched my teeth! Whatever it was! I was going to face it head on! _

_Author's Notes:_

_This chapter didn't come out exactly the way I wanted it. sighs But it wasn't too bad I suppose._


	3. Act Three Collision

_Act Three_

_Collision _

_This fight scene is for daydrifter, _

_who wanted to see Sasori and Neji duke it out! _

_Sasori no Danna!" Deidara said, fists clenched and eyes boring into me with determination. "C'mon let's go!" _

_I blinked, a little surprised at Deidara's nonsensical command. We were already headed towards our destination and wouldn't stop till nightfall. I was surprised when he hauled me up onto his bird and took off into the sky; my first instinct was to latch on with chakra so I wouldn't tumble on the ground. I was not used to flying on the bird and by the time my shocked mind had settled down enough for me to think properly about jumping off the bird and onto the ground, we were flying too high and too fast for me to actually pull it off. We were moving in the opposite direction from where we originally headed. _

"_Deidara where are we going?" I growled at him, hotly annoyed by this impromptu delay._

_He smiled at me and said "You haven't been acting like yourself lately Sasori no Danna. We're going to Konoha to get your little doll."_

_Normally I would have grown angry with Deidara and demand that we turn back, but his words brought me contentment, easing that deep ache inside of me. I grunted in consent and allowed him to take us towards Konoha._

_Deidara was never one for subtleties, by the time we reached Konoha's border, he had already started setting off small explosions. One was practically on top of a patrolling ANBU squad. Most of the squad had been killed, save one. Deidara waved cheerily at the remaining ANBU as if they were old friends and the ANBU ran off to inform the Hokage that we were here. _

"_Deidara what are you doing?" I asked now seriously angry. Deidara only smiled at me. _

"_Lady Hokage, there are two Akatsuki moving across our borders! My entire team was killed in the blasts. We need back up quickly!" The ANBU said, masked removed, skin badly burned. Tsunade had been in the process of debriefing Team Gai on an escort mission they had just returned from. _

"_Lady Hokage we will be back-up!" Said Gai, giving her a thumbs-up, while the rest of the team nodded their agreement. Tsunade considered the proposal for a moment. _

"_Alright, you go and intercept these Akatsuki members while I assemble another team for back-up." She turned towards the ANBU, "I want you to give Gai and Shizune coordinates and descriptions of the Akatsuki members while she heals you."_

_The ANBU nodded, "Yes Lady Hokage."_

_Gai got the coordinates and the descriptions and set off with his youthful team, not realizing that he was speeding up the drastic events that had already been set in motion, two groups that were moving towards each other on a gravitational collision course. _

_I continued to be angry. I seldom trusted Deidara's half-thought actions; he did manage to pull through often enough, but usually with dire consequences. I spied a blur on the ground below in a clearing, Deidara wheeled the bird downwards to get a better look._

_My eyes widened in surprise when I recognized Tenten among the back-up sent. They had been surprisingly fast. Deidara was originally going to drop me close by and keep them distracted while I searched for her, but this was turning out much better then I suspect, even Deidara had initially thought. For I caught a quick glimpse of surprise in his eyes as well when he recognized my target. He became smug and came close enough to the trees to allow me to jump off and go after her._

_I landed heavily on my feet and lifted my head to look at her. She was standing a few feet in front of me, she stood proudly, fierce determination flashing in those chocolate eyes, which then widened in recognition, and for the first time in a long time I was excited at the prospect of a battle._

"_Neji! You and Lee will take down Akasuna no Sasori! Tenten and I you will go after Deidara!"_

"_Right!" They said. _

_I watched with secret resentment as she went after Deidara. I was not pleased at being denied my prize so early on in the game, but when I looked at the Hyuuga I remembered that he had attempted to encroach upon what would soon rightfully belong to me. I had become extremely possessive of Tenten lately, having already marked her out as mine and I would make sure that he paid the consequences. My eyes flickered over to Tenten and her sensei, as they leaped higher and higher. Tenten throwing bombs in an attempt to bring Deidara down while he laughed at her pitiful attempts. _

_I turned my attention back to the Hyuuga, "You touched what belongs to me." _

_He arched an elegant eyebrow in confusion. _

"_I do not know what you are talking about. I have never touched your possessions." The green-clad boy exclaimed in bewilderment. _

"_Be quiet you fool! I was not talking to you!" I told him sharply. After all, this boy was no threat to what was mine, the Hyuuga however held her attention and I wanted to make her forget him._

"_I echo me teammate's sentiments, though I suppose I don't really care." The Hyuuga said with a mild trace of curiosity that belied his nonchalant demeanor. _

"_The Byakugan will be troublesome, but a much needed challenge." I thought to myself in anticipation. I brought out one of my puppets. She was Chinatsu Akado. She came from a clan that could absorb their opponents' chakra, and allowed her to finish them off at her leisure. She was the best puppet I had against a Hyuuga and I had a special one for the Taijutsu Master. _

_She sashayed prettily towards them, her long purple hair had two small braids in front tied off with white ribbons and amber beads. Her manner towards the Hyuuga and the other boy was coquettish as she batted her eyelashes at them and a nearly invisible, odorless dust was blown into their faces on a small breeze. The dust was a paralysis agent; made in such a way that the target wouldn't realize what was happening until it was too late. It was one of my clan's secret poisons and not to be employed lightly._

"_Well. Shall we begin?" I asked him coldly. I moved Chinatsu to the left and she shot out poisoned senbon which the Hyuuga dodged easily, my hands working lightly as Chinatsu took out her katana. A graceful katana with a black handle and a dusty pink rose carved into it, the Hyuuga dodged again and the sword stabbed into the earth, the rose glowed and the Hyuuga found himself entangled in a large briar patch as Chinatsu advanced on him, she leapt into the air and slashed down with her sword. _

"_Damn! A clone!" I cursed inwardly. _

_Gai-sensei and I were having a lot of difficulty since Deidara was staying low enough to attack us and high enough to be just out of reach._

_I dodged a flurry of stray shuriken, watching them explode as I countered them with my own. I flinched as the hot slivers of metal hit my bare skin and then went back on the attack with large kunai and a demon-wind mill shuriken. He merely flew out of my way and I twirled to the ground, landing in a low stance, one arm across my face, the other behind me for balance as I fought off momentary nausea and vertigo._

_I got up and Gai sensei pushed me out of the way as three eagles flew abreast creating a ten-foot wide crater in their wake. _

_Gai-sensei dodged a winged wolf which exploded and broke his nose. I frowned at the blonde who seemed to be more on the offensive with my sensei then me, but I took a deep breath and calmed myself. I could not allow my petty pride to get in the way, but I could use that to my advantage. _

_I got on a high enough cliff and pulled out my scrolls. I quickly began forming hand signs. "Rising Twin Dragons!" I watched as a multitude of weapons flew out at him._

_Deidara's hands formed a large shield of clay and I could only watch in bewilderment as they stuck to it. He smirked at me, "I never forgot about you _**little doll **_un!" He said playfully, putting an emphasis on Little Doll._

_I glared angrily at him. "Where did he get off calling me that? He had some nerve!" I thought fuming, then another thought entered my mind._

"_Gai-sensei get out of the way!" I screamed!_

"_Katsu!"_

_The other boy had come running for me and was suddenly grabbed by the foot and dragged down by Tsuchi Yakihiro. A puppet who had been lying in wait for when the paralysis agent kicked in._

_I hated revealing my hand so soon, but the Hyuuga had forced me too it. I cursed angrily under my breath when that clone disappeared in a puff of white smoke. My eyes narrowed as the Hyuuga swayed high in the treetops. _

_I summoned Hebiko, a half-snake, half-woman who slithered up the trees, red nails gleaming in the light as she shot them from her hands, and the branch the Hyuuga was standing on fell to the ground._

_The Hyuuga landed on his feet as gracefully as a cat and Hebiko jumped off the tree, the boy being dragged into the ground spun around and threw a few exploding tags at Hebiko, who tunneled under the earth as fast as a cobra. The Hyuuga followed the trail of raised earth and managed to avoid her metal coils. He came behind me and attempted to use the Gentle Fist but was surprised when that didn't work._

_I used Tsuchi to keep the other boy busy and Tsuchi was in every sense of the word a bruiser! His steel body barely got a dent as the Taijutsu Master pummeled that chakra enhanced steel. Tsuchi grabbed him from the earth and slammed him into the ground, while the boy struggled wildly to break free from his vice-like grip. _

"_You know that can't work on me idiot boy! You will pay the consequences for touching what is mine." I informed him as we both used Taijutsu against each other._

_He snorted, "Which is what exactly? You never bothered to tell me." He said leaping up and kicking at my chest._

_The real Hebiko erupted from the ground, giving a slight squeeze, bruising his skin and turned him towards his teammate and sensei who were busy trying to chase down Deidara. I watched with pride as she unleashed a whirlwind of weapons, forcing my partner to dodge the deadly assault._

_Neji felt a chill snake down his spine, though he wasn't sure why. "Tenten?" He asked with casual arrogance. "Why Tenten? She's the Weapons Mistress of Konoha but-"_

"_Tch!" The Hyuuga looked at me as though only mildly annoyed at my interruption. Just as I suspected! He was a fool! A fool that could not see that his teammate was an artist._

"_Are you going to answer my question?" The Hyuuga taunted, "Or you going to stand there sulking like a petulant child?" _

_My eyes flashed angrily, I still wondered why I wanted her for myself, but I couldn't give him the answer. "My reasons are my reasons Konoha brat and none of your business!" I snarled angrily._

"_Aaah!" The green boy screamed as he finally managed to get out of Tsuchi's grip. Both of his spared a glance at him. He truly cut a pitiful figure. His head hung low, barely able to keep it up, as he had been flung like a rag doll causing whiplash. His right foot and ankle were broken, his right shoulder was wrenched and I suspected he had torn several muscles and ligaments._

_He closed his eyes and began to focus chakra, Tsuchi raised a clenched fist, forcing him to break his concentration. The Hyuuga managed to squeeze out of Hebiko's grasp and the puppet flew off in chunks and splinters and that's when I smiled at him. The paralysis agent was taking effect now. _

"_What-what is this?" The Hyuuga asked as his reflexes began to slow a little. _

"_Neji! I am having trouble moving my body!" The green clad boy called, slurring his speech and stumbling towards his teammate. _

_Chinatsu flew out of the briar patch and swung her blade down in a simple but elegant kata. She swung down on his head, she swung for the left femur, she swung for the right shoulder blade causing him to stumble back as she somersaulted over him and he spun around and kicked her in the head to avoid getting run impaled, she then tried to cut him in half but he was still to quick for that. _

_I was suddenly lifted off the ground and kicked higher and higher away from it, sensing out the boy beneath me. It was the Dancing Leaf Shadow and his bandages began to unwrap and bind me to him, "Primary Lotus!" He roared as we spun to the ground at a frightening speed and I was buried within it._

_I pulled myself up and out of the ground, highly amused at the boy's horror-stricken face as pieces reattached themselves and I picked up the strings of my fallen puppets. _

_Tsuchi attacked the green-clad boy with a vengeance and all I could do was laugh at the boys' pitiful attempt to dodge. _

_I raced towards Gai-sensei in an attempt to push him out of the way, _

_Ignoring the large chunk of rock that was headed towards us, I felt the familiar pain of shuriken, senbon and kunai as they sliced my skin. I had to fall to the ground to keep from getting beheaded by a short-bladed scythe. I got back up and ran hard knowing that I would be too late but hoping I could act as a barrier between me and my sensei._

_The Hyuuga was using his Rotation technique to dodge the weapons that Hebiko and Chinatsu were barraging him with. I wonder if he even noticed that with every swing of her sword and every rotation, Chinatsu was feeding off his chakra. His eyes widening told me that he had noticed that the protective shield of energy was rapidly shrinking. _

_His eyes widened and he formed Rotation again, but his movements were now sluggish and with his chakra being steadily drained he couldn't get Rotation up at full strength_

_Deidara used one of his bombs and I watched as one of them knocked the Hyuuga unconscious, he was badly burned and only his half-formed jutsu had saved him from the brunt of Deidara's blast as he turned the bird around with a panicked look on his face. I startled when I saw my prize running hard towards her sensei._

_Something white and large flashed in my peripheral vision and I felt a pair of strong arms pick me up. "Oh no you don't un! I can't let you sustain any serious injuries Little Doll!"_

_Deidara swooped down and scooped up Tenten in one arm. I knew Deidara was doing this for me, but he had touched her and was holding the struggling girl too close to his body. This also meant that I would have no choice but to stay on the ground, since there was no room for me on the bird and that sent waves of rage through me as I looked over at her one standing teammate who charged me like an angry bull. I took the opportunity to unfurl my stinger and the idiot ran himself through with very little effort on my part._

"_Lee!" Tenten shrieked, struggling madly out of Deidara's grasp! I turned wide horrified eyes at my partner as he flew up into the sky, his bird nearly at a vertical angle and gripping my prize with only one hand._

"_Go ahead. Just keep on struggling yeah." I said smugly to the girl, who stilled immediately when she saw high we were flying. _

_Author's Notes:_

_Sorry it took me so long to update! But after a crappy Act Two, _

_I had to make sure that Act Three was up to par _

_with an __awesome as hell battle!_

_Hope you all enjoyed Act Three and hopefully _

_the next intermission won't be so long! __;)_

_See you at Act Four Captured_

_Little Kunai_


	4. Act Four Captured!

Act Four

Captured

Gai stared miserably at his two students resting fitfully in their beds. His mind wandering to Tenten, hoping, praying that she was okay. Fortunately for Gai, the large chunk of flying rock that had hit in the head, after Deidara's blast would not leave any lasting damage, but for his delightfully youthful students…who could say? Gai of course had left his students to the medics capable hands and had debriefed with Tsunade.

At this point, Tenten had been labeled a missing nin. Now there were different types of missing nin, some were fugitives, some were believed to be dead without the actual proof needed to back it up, and some were abducted and never seen again. Unfortunately, when most people heard the word they automatically assumed criminal.

The Hokage had sent out a search team insisting that Gai stay there and rest. Gai didn't like that, didn't like not being able to help search for his missing student, though he knew she was right of course, he had sustained some serious wounds himself, not fatal or crippling but bad enough to know that he would be no good to Tenten in his current state.

_My heart was thudding loudly as that crazy son of a bitch turned that bird into a barrel roll! I was flipped upside down in the air and landed heavily onto the bird, sweat rolling off my face and panting with sheer terror over his crazy aerial maneuver. I gripped the bird in terror with my chakra as we flew on into the darkening sky. We finally landed and I noticed that the redhead had already made camp. _

_I couldn't understand what the Akatsuki would want with me? To force them to stop pursuit? That would never happen and the Akatsuki knew it. I wasn't worth much monetary-wise as a ransom. Were they going to torture me into leaking information? That was a possibility, though I couldn't think of any information I knew that would be vital to the Akatsuki. _

_The redhead reminded me a bit of the Kazekage, except his eyes were brown and in some ways he looked younger then Gaara did. He stared at me for hours on end and I glared back at him hatefully. I hoped fervently that my teammates were alright. I wasn't entirely sure what had hit Neji, but he had looked pretty badly burned from the blast. The way Lee had begun convulsing told me that that weird tail on the redhead was poisonous. It made me want to cry! But I refused to give that satisfaction to the likes of these two! _

_I watched her glaring at me silently from across the campfire, her eyes filled with loathing. For some reason, instead of making me angry I felt oddly at peace. For now, just having her here was enough. She was like a rare bird that had eluded me, but that I had finally caught. _

_My eyes slowly began drooping, I couldn't keep it up anymore. Gai-sensei's training was always grueling, often driving me to utter exhaustion. We had pushed ourselves past the limit just to track them down and…and…_

_My eyes snapped open! The redhead was leaning over me. His strange, empty eyes peering at me from the dim starlight. His hands caressing my shoulders tentatively, tracing his fingers down my throat, skimming across my breasts, down my stomach and legs. I wasn't sure how long I'd slept, but I was suddenly angry and afraid! I was tied up with chakra leaching rope and completely at his mercy! His lips brushed mine and I stiffened in shock! They were made out of wood instead of flesh! My heart began pounding furiously in my chest when he spoke._

"_I will not be able to experience this but-perhaps you will enjoy it." He said quietly, uncertainly; his voice spoke as intimately to me as though we were lovers._

_I gaped at him in stupefication before finding my voice and snarling angrily. _

"_If I wanted to screw a piece of wood I would have started masturbating with my staff a long time ago!" _

_His partner howled with laughter at my outburst and Sasori glowered angrily at me. _

"_That's no way for a lady to talk." He informed me before standing up and shooting the blonde a nasty look. _

"_We will have to work on correcting your manners." He said. _

_I wanted to make a snide reply to him, but angering an Akatsuki member was a good way to get myself killed. So I swallowed my pride and outrage and began formulating a plan to either kill them or escape from them. This kidnapping could turn out to Konoha's advantage if I could find valuable information on the Akatsuki._

_I was determined to hold off on sleep as long as possible, difficult since the ropes were a constant drain on my chakra and we only camped till daybreak. It was taxing my strength quickly, even if they didn't keep up the grueling pace Gai-sensei kept us on._

_For three days straight she never slept, managing to keep up with us. My respect for her had greatly increased and even Deidara was in grudging admiration of her stamina. But she was slowing us down with her refusal to sleep or eat. At some point I tried to force feed her, but she was proving to be even more stubborn then I had initially believed. I ignored Deidara's suggestion to just throw her on the bird and head to our next destination. What the brat said did hold merit, but there was only room on the bird for two and that meant that I would have no choice but to stay on the ground. The idea of anyone touching what was mine made me furious! Finally after three days, her body gave out and she collapsed. I was both pleased and worried, though I wasn't sure why I would be worried about her. Giving a mingled sigh of exasperation and relief, I bent down and picked her up._

_I was puzzled yeah. I had believed that once my Danna had gotten his prize he would go back to being his old self. But his behavior continued to get odder by every minute that he was in the girl's company. Where Sasori would have snapped at me for slowing us down, he was incredibly patient with her. Though the Weapons Mistress had certainly impressed me with her stamina un. Now he was cradling her against his chest by the campfire, the way that a parent would cradle an exhausted child. _

_The kunoichi had slept for nearly half the day now, her body desperately trying to make up for the lack of sleep. I was also surprised that he hadn't started making plans for turning her into one of his battle puppets un. It was true that he had pushed us to lose the ninja in pursuit but, even then I could often see the wheels of his mind churning out ideas. There had been none of that with her in his eyes un. It was…odd._

_I opened my eyes slowly, feeling groggy and disoriented. I was surprised to find that I was in his arms. The morning sun was rising, making his hair glow like a fiery red halo and he looked at me and blinked slowly with large, childlike brown eyes. The look on his face was a strange but potent mixture, one that left me feeling confused and dismayed at my body's reactions to him. On one hand he looked so innocent, like a little boy that had just woken up; on the other hand, the half-lidded gaze was seductive and very sexy. I mentally cringed at the odd direction of my thoughts and gave him a fierce scowl. Sasori may have been handsome, but he was still my enemy and captor._

_We walked slowly, resting during the heat of day and moving out at night when it was coolest. Even though it was only May Suna was unbearably hot! I hated to think about what it would be like in August! _

"_Hey Tenten?" Deidara said out of the blue._

_I opened my eyes wearily and glanced at the bomber in front of me. The sun seemed to glare in my eyes, even with the protective canvas covering us. _

"_What's your opinion on art un?" He asked me._

_I frowned, "This guy woke me up just to ask me my opinion on art?" I thought groggily. I wanted to snap at him, but I had seen firsthand how volatile he could be. I noticed that Sasori had turned his head towards our conversation in sharp interest._

_I stifled a yawn before answering him. _

"_Art's whatever you want it to be, there's no rules, no boundaries. A child who scribbles on the wall with crayons is creating art just as much as a professional painting a beautiful landscape." _

_My answer was clearly not what either man had expected and I was almost asleep when Sasori leaned over me and for one crazy moment, I was sorely tempted to kiss him, though I shook myself out of it remembering that Sasori was a human puppet and even more importantly that he was an enemy of Konoha. _

_Her complete switch of personalities frustrated me. She had gone from being stubborn and defiant to complacent and biddable within days. I often found myself attempting to start a fight with her. When I had pushed far enough; her hands would clench into fists and her eyes flashed fire and she snapped at me. Often the things she would say angered me and I often wondered why things escalated so quickly. Things were beginning to get way out of hand, as she switched back into a defiant state of mind. Deidara was already sick of the daily bickering and fist fights between us. My prize was sewing discord into my carefully ordered world._

_One day, she and Deidara began arguing about something and he made a rather scathing remark which pushed her over the edge. Quick as a flash she grabbed him by his cloak and slammed her knee into him._

"_Why you little bitch!" Deidara snarled and swung hard. She leapt into the air quickly and he followed suit, grabbing her throat and slamming her back into the ground, pinning her under his body. She grabbed a handful of hair and bit him-hard! Hard enough to draw blood, but Deidara had suffered worse injuries then this and didn't even flinch._

"_Deidara! Watch out!" I warned, noticing that one hand had slipped into his pocket and had withdrawn a handful of shuriken._

_Too late! She kicked him and leapt up, suddenly she was everywhere! Bouncing up, down, diagonal and side-to-side, she rolled out, the shuriken suspended in the air for just a brief moment before they came slashing down on us from multiple directions. We managed to escape by using the substitution jutsu._

_Tenten, severely depleted of chakra though she was, had taken off running._

_We took off after her, Deidara on his bird and me on foot._

"_Danna! You have got to get her under control! This is becoming too much of a hassle un! It's putting us off schedule and Leader's already pissed!" Deidara shouted angrily as he flung a stone at her head and knocked her out._

_I sighed heavily, realizing then that she had finally forced me to do something that I swore I would never do with her. I used my chakra strings to bend her to my will when she woke up. Her eyes had been full of shock when she found herself no longer in control of her own body, then they filled with black rage and deep humiliation. I was becoming more and more troubled by her hateful glares and I couldn't understand my own thought processes. She was doing exactly what I wanted her to do. I wanted obedience from her and I was unsatisfied. Then I wanted her defiance and I quickly grew sick of it. What was it that I wanted from her? More importantly why couldn't I get it?_

_Authoress_

_Told you it wouldn't be too as long _

_between acts as it was last time!_

_Hope you enjoyed Act Four Capture. _

_It will probably take a while _

_before I get the next chapter up loyal readers!_

_Mainly because I had this chap _

_partially written beforehand!_

_After this intermission will be _

_Act Five Orchestration_


	5. Act 5 Artistry Pt One

_Act Five_

_Artistry Pt. One _

Author's Notes:

I decided to change the name of this chapter.

_The desert night was quiet and peaceful and I glanced at Tenten, keeping her as close to me as possible. I felt the urge to touch her continuously, getting increasingly troubled by her venomous looks. _

"_Stop touching me!" I snapped finally, gritting my teeth and jerking away. "What do you want with me anyways?" I demanded for the umpteenth time. Sasori looked confused for a moment but wouldn't answer me and I had the feeling he didn't know either._

"_Tenten." He said softly, as though my name was foreign on his tongue. I refused to answer him._

"_Tenten." This time it was filled with contempt._

"_Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him…" I chanted to myself like a mantra._

"_You are a true artist with your weapons. You should not have been saddled with a name like…Tenten!" He spat, as though he had a bad taste in his mouth._

_I stared at him in shock! First he compliments me then he insults my name? Just who did he think he was?_

"_For your information I happen to like my name! It's a lot better then being named after some…some tiny, ugly, poisonous creepy-crawly!"_

_His soft brown eyes flashed dangerously. "My parents named me." _

"_Oh wow! What a coincidence my parents named me too!" I said sarcastically. I knew his parents were dead so I decided that it would be wiser to hold back my next retort._

_All of her frustration, fear and exhaustion bubbled out at last and she screamed. "Why the hell did you pick me anyways? I'm not valuable as a hostage, or as a source of information! I-"_

_I put one finger on her lips, quieting her down. She gaped at the tender gesture._

"_You are mine." I said simply._

"_Yours? Your what?" I asked. "Your hostage? Your next puppet? Your personal sex slave? Your what?"_

_Again he seemed to have no answer available, just this odd look of bewilderment and contentment._

"_Oh Kami! I've been kidnapped by madmen!" I growled under my breath._

"_I'm not mad un! I'm an artist." Deidara informed me._

"_You like to blow people up!" I retorted angrily. "You're totally nuts!"_

_Deidara huffed angrily and chose to ignore me for the rest of the night. Early that morning, Sasori gathered me into his arms and held me there firmly._

_Her close proximity comforted me, I hadn't felt this kind of contentment since my parents were still alive. "For eternity."_

"_What?" I said sharply, wondering what he was talking about now._

"_You wanted to know what you are to me…you are mine for all eternity." I told her. She gaped at me not quite knowing what to say. After a few minutes of stunned silence she hissed angrily, "You're insane!"_

"_Shh sleep now." I told her and begun to hum to her, as though that would cool her rage. It took me a moment longer to realize that the tune was the same one my mother had hummed to me when I was fretful or sleepy. Tenten's eyelids began to droop and soon she had fallen into that uneasy sleep that shinobi had learned to acclimate too. _

_Every night we marched on in the deserts of Wind Country, everyday we set up camp and rested. Everyday Sasori would gather me in his arms and hum that same tune. It reminded me of a child's lullaby, though I didn't recognize it, it was strangely comforting and it did help me to sleep. It was without a doubt, the weirdest abduction in shinobi history, if I lived to tell about it that is. Finally I gathered the courage to ask him. _

"_Did your mother used to sing that to you?" I asked him as he rummaged through his partner's pack, shook out my long hair and began to brush it with slow strokes._

"_Yes." He said after a long silence. _

"_I-it's nice." I murmured, wondering why I was catering to his strange whims._

"_Hn." He said, he had finished brushing the tangles out of my hair and had wrapped my hair back in it's usual buns, it had taken him a while to figure out just how I styled it, but by now he was almost as good as I was. I knew what was next, he handed the brush to me and turned his back, indicating that it was now my turn to brush his hair. With my customary sigh, I began gently brushing his silky red hair until he motioned for me to stop. I wondered at times if Sasori just wanted a personal slave. Who knew? The man was a psychopath._

_Later on when I woke up, Sasori moved me out of the tent to relieve Deidara. The large red sun was sinking into the sky and the desert was beginning to cool off, though not by much in my estimation. I frowned, I smelled like stale sweat and dried blood. I hadn't taken a bath for days. _

_I released the puppet strings and watched as she gave me a puzzled look. She didn't move though, she was too shocked by my actions to run and try to make it to Sunagakure for help. Deidara tensed immediately._

"_Tenten…will you spar with me?" He asked softly._

"_W-what?" I asked him in confusion. _

"_Spar with me?" I repeated. "It's been too long since I watched you practice your arts. I would be honored from one artist to another if you would spar with me."_

_Deidara shot me an odd look and then climbed into the tent to sleep._

_He tossed me my weapons and I could have kissed them! I was so glad to have my beloved weapons that I agreed to his request. He brought out one of his puppets and I held back a shudder, knowing that he would be deeply offended if I did. Akasuna no Sasori, converted his fallen enemies bodies into combat puppets. To hide the look of disgust on my face I bowed to him. The puppet shot out two poisoned senbon and I dodged to the left, knocking the senbon off course with one kunai._

_The puppet came towards me and I threw one large demon windmill shuriken, making sure that I had another just in it's shadow, the first shuriken passed through the chakra strings, the shadow clone shuriken behind it severed his connection. I breathed a silent thank you to the Uchiha clan for developing such a trick before fifty more shuriken came speeding towards him, he blocked them with his arm and reattached his chakra strings. Then he brought out three more puppets and surrounded me. I told myself to be on my toes, I was after all, up against one of the greatest puppet masters of his time. He could summon an army large enough to take on an entire hidden village if he wanted too._

"_Kankuro. The Leaf Village has requested your expertise." The Kazekage told his brother as he passed the puppet nin the urgent scroll. _

"_Oh yeah?" He asked with interest, then paled a little. "Shit!" He said, "Shit!"_

_Gaara raised an eyebrow, a silent request for an explanation._

"_Akasuna no Sasori kidnapped Konoha's Weapons Mistress, they were last seen heading towards Suna and they want us to help rescue her. Gaara…that girl is probably dead already."_

"_Yes, that's true." Gaara said, "but the least we can do is try to recover her body, even if it has been…modified and more importantly two Akatsuki so close by are a threat to the village. They will be sending out a four man squad to come and retrieve her. They should be arriving in a few days." _

_One puppet shot out flame while the other, shot out ice. I dodged both and kicked the third puppet twice, the puppet turned into a log and I barely avoided getting my head chopped off when she swung her zanbatto. The first puppet leapt up and landed on leg I ducked under the high kick and attempted to knock him...it…the puppet off it's feet. No such luck! I suddenly realized that the puppet master was going easy on me! How dare he?! I was no weak little girl!_

_I dodged and ducked, punched and rolled, then used a flash bomb to momentarily blind Sasori. He came behind me and wrapped his arms around me, his three puppets pointing their deadly weapons in front of me. _

"_That will be enough for today Tenten." He whispered softly into the shell of my ear and I felt a pleasant heat in my belly, though I was certain he wasn't doing it deliberately. Each puppet returned to it's summoning scroll and we sat in companionable silence, waiting patiently for night to come._

_Three days later Gai and his team, Neji, Lee, Ino and Shino arrived. Kankuro looked grimly at them. _

"_I'm not going to lie, Tenten's probably dead already." Lee, Ino and Shino looked stricken, Gai sensei looked grim, Neji seemed impassive. Kankuro shook his head at the Hyuga. "But we do have a chance to retrieve her body, kill the Akatsuki and give her a…proper burial." Kankuro said, softening his words a little for their benefit. _

_They all looked up and Lee suddenly burst out, "No! I know that the youthful flower of our team will not give up! Tenten's a survivor and as stubborn as they come! I just know she is alive!"_

_Kankuro sighed, long used to Lee's antics and muttered, "I hope your right Bushy-Brow! I hope your right!" Then he barked out, "C'mon we'll gather our supplies and see if we can track them down." _

_Shino held a piece of clothing in front of his insects and the swarm hovered around it before taking off in a steady direction._

_Little Kunai_

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Eternity._

_Up next is Act Six Artistry Pt.2_


	6. Act Six Artistry Pt Two

_Act Six _

_Artistry Pt. Two_

**Dedicated to daydrifter, Darkness-Bride, Lady Kandayu and Kyrie Twilight. You guys are all just awesome as hell!**

_Kankuro and the Leaf nin were hot on Tenten's trail, much to Lee's dismay they rested during the daytime and moved at night. _

"_We should not be resting at all!" Lee declared on the second day, "We should be trying to find Tenten!"_

"_You idiot-" Kankuro began._

"_Lee, I'm worried about Tenten too." Interrupted Gai before Kankuro could continue, "But considering who we're dealing with, Tenten is probably dead!"_

"_But-"Lee began._

"_Kankuro is leading this mission, he knows these deserts much better then we do and we need all our strength to take down two S-Rank criminals!" His voice was stern, leaving no room for argument._

"_But Gai sensei-"Lee continued._

"_No arguments Lee! I'm not in charge of this mission. Kankuro is! And we will abide by his decisions!"_

_Lee glanced mutinously at Kankuro but instead mumbled, "Yes Gai sensei! My apologies Kankuro." He stood and looked out over the horizon, as though Tenten would miraculously come running up to them._

"_Oh Tenten!" He whispered. "Please be safe!"_

_Tenten and Sasori seemed less tense with each other! She wasn't exactly warming up to him, but she didn't seem as hateful towards him lately. She had genuinely felt for him when he told her about his past, but she reminded herself, that didn't excuse his behavior. She had lost her father when the nine tailed fox had attacked as well. She certainly wasn't a bastion of good morals, but at least she didn't run around making puppets out of corpses and passing it off as art. That went beyond morals! That was just plain psycho!_

_Every day when I held her closely to me. I reminded her that she was mine for eternity. That we were bound together by destiny. She would gaze at me stubbornly and told me that the day she accepted that, would be the day that she might as well turn in her weapons and retire._

_One day I noticed a change in Sasori. He seemed excited and anxious, particularly when the Akatsuki spy Zetsu appeared. He handed a summoning scroll to the puppet master and settled down to wait patiently, he eyed me hungrily and I stood proudly and met his eye without flinching. He merely smiled and licked his lips, and I felt a jolt of fear. _

_I left Deidara to guard her, my movement filled with purpose and understanding. Of course! She was never meant to be my puppet! It was the reason I never saw her as one, but I would make her mine permanently and then I wouldn't have to be alone anymore. I was going to improve upon her near perfection and then allow her to improve herself, she would be angry with me for a while I knew. But once she adjusted, she would become a magnificent weapons mistress! And the perfect weapons mistress! Her entire body would be her weapon! I gathered scorpions and desert herbs, even dipping into my dried reserves that Zetsu had brought for me. I began making my concoction and when I was done, added it to her daily water ration. What I was making was tasteless and undetectable. I sung her to sleep, while Zetsu watched with amusement, patiently waiting for his meal._

_After she fell asleep I took her into a nearby cave and worked long and hard on her, removed organs, skin and flesh were given to Zetsu who devoured them hungrily, I called up reserves up chakra even I didn't know I had. Pumping them into her to stay alive. Recounting all of the seals and hard work I had done on myself. It had been painful but I survived and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she would survive as well._

_Deidara turned to watch Zetsu leave, his clothes bloodied and his hunger sated. _

_I was half-dozing, while waiting for my partner to be finished making his puppet, when a sudden shriek of terror split the air! I jerked awake in shock, the shriek was undeniably female "What the hell yeah? The Leaf nin shouldn't even be alive!" I muttered, feeling a sinking feeling deep in my gut._

"_What have you done to me?!" I screamed, feeling fear and rage inside me as I looked at my wooden hands. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!" _

_She wrapped her arms around her self protectively and set up a violent rocking pace back and forth. She was shivering and in shock!_

"_You sick-crazy-sonuvabitch!" She wailed._

_I had had enough, I wanted to see what the hell was going on yeah! So I charged into the hidden cave and my jaw dropped. Sasori had performed the same jutsu that had allowed him to become a living puppet. Tenten was rocking back and forth wildly, shouting obscenities and shaking like a leaf. She turned her half-mad eyes on me! Pleading, begging for me to end it quickly un. I felt sick to my stomach and was suddenly very grateful that Sasori had never seen too much potential in me yeah! But what happened to her, was none of my business, so I turned and walked away._

"_What have you done? What have you done?" She repeated, going back into panic mode._

"_You are worthy enough to be mine. You are mine for eternity. I have made you into the epitome of perfection…like me. This way you will get much stronger, you will never get cold, never feel pain, you cannot be destroyed." I said to her, deciding that it would be best to neglect mentioning that destroying her heart or her brain would be the only thing that could kill her. She was strong though, she had survived my jutsu and that told me that she wanted to live. "You were destined to be mine all along."_

_She turned wide staring eyes at me. That look bothered me, I understood that she was upset…but she would get used too it, and revel in her newfound strength soon enough. She suddenly erupted into full-blown hysteria._

"_I-I-I want to get cold! I WANT TO FEEL PAIN! And pleasure! And a kunai in my leg! And I want to feel the heat of the sun! and the leather grip on my sword! You took it all away from me! You have no right! Mark my words Sasori! I'm going to kill you!!"_

_I tensed up, waiting for her to come at me, but instead she put her face in her hands and began to cry without tears. Something I had done night after night before I joined the Akatsuki._

"_You will get used to it eventually. You will appreciate the gift I've given you soon enough Tenten. You are the finest art I have ever built. Heavenly…your name means heavenly doesn't it? You never want to touch the ground. Look! Now you don't have too." _

_I just gaped when wings popped out of my back! Amazed that he just kept on talking, his voice becoming more animated as he showed me where he stored my various weapons, how I could blow fire out of my mouth, the poisoned senbon in my skull, the shuriken that would shoot from my fingertips. I couldn't say anything at all. _

_Three days ago…_

_Shino frowned, "Tenten is still alive, but just barely and they are ten days away._

"_Shit! That means they'll be near the border in another day or so!" Kankuro cursed. _

_We started training the very next day, Tenten mutely learned how to manipulate her puppet body in the first few hours. She was clumsy at first, but her love of weapons, which was instinctive allowed her to learn rapidly. _

_I told myself over and over again that I was training to catch him off guard. The best way to destroy an artist is to destroy his finest work, but I'd be damned if I didn't take him with me! I worked with grim determination and pushed down any sense of foolish pride that I felt when Sasori quietly complimented me. But everyday when it was time to rest I retired to our shared tent and lay there, lost in soul-crushing misery. Unable to believe that I was trapped in a body that I didn't want. I learned to control my wings on windy days and felt a strange sort of freedom that I'd never felt before, Deidara would laugh and sometimes fly beside me. I listened to Sasori and blew out a massive fireball, marveling at the damage it did to the surrounding scrubby brush that marked the far borders of Suna. Sasori and I would often train with his puppets and sometimes I went against him._

_Lee was grinning, he knew in his heart that they were getting closer and closer to Tenten! He could feel it! On the fifth day, he could feel her chakra signature and whispered excitedly to Shino. _

_Suddenly the swarm came back to Shino, buzzing with news. Shino's eyebrow raised and a strange look came on his face._

"_Lee-wait! Lee you have to listen-"_

_All attempts to get Lee to listen as he went charging up the hill. Suddenly his jaw dropped, "T-T-Tenten! It cannot be!" Neji rolled his eyes and went to see what his teammate was stuttering about._

_Authoress:_

_I'm sure a lot of you were expecting that_

_There's only two acts left. Stay tuned for _

_Act Seven Rebellion_


	7. Act Seven Rebellion

_Act Seven_

_Rebellion_

_Lee gaped and Neji frowned. How could this be? How could cheerful, ambitious, happy-go-lucky Tenten betray them? _

"_Tenten?" Lee said, large eyes filling with tears that never fell. "How could you?" He demanded unhappily. _

_Kankuro gazed at her thoughtfully. _

"_He's controlling her with chakra strings." He explained to the distraught Lee. Neji activated his Byakugan. _

"_It's more then that." He said, eyes wide with horror like Lee's never seen them before. After all not much outwardly affected Neji Hyuuga. "He's turned her body into a puppet!" _

"_What? No!" Said Lee unable to believe what he had just heard. "I do not understand." _

_Kankuro looked grim, _

"_Akasuna no Sasori takes talented shinobi and converts their bodies and jutsu into combat puppets. Hell! The sicko even turned himself into a puppet!" _

"_But…but that's impossible! So Tenten's dead?" Said Lee, tears running freely down his face now. _

"_My God!" Gai exclaimed as he stood there staring at his student. _

"_No, she's not dead though it would have been kinder." Said Neji. Three heads turned to him, wordlessly in wait of an explanation. Lee looked hopeful, Gai cringed, Kankuro expectant, steeling himself for the worst. _

"_He's made her like himself. He's turned her into a living puppet, he's replaced her vital organs, transferred her soul and put it all into a puppet's body. Just like his." _

_Gai looked furious. "That's disgusting!" He said quietly, fists clenched, teeth grit, concealing the intense sorrow inside breaking like a dam. He would have cried if he didn't have a job to do. For he loved all his students. Lee the most, but he had been proud of Tenten and her accomplishments just the same. She had simply never needed as much encouragement as Lee had._

_Sasori commanded Tenten to move and frowned angrily when her body locked on him. Tenten stared out at her teammates with hopeful eyes, she was determined not to harm them. Thus began the battle of wills between Sasori and Tenten. _

"_Kankuro he seems to be struggling. Can you tell us why?" Neji asked watching the pair. _

_Kankuro hesitated momentarily, he didn't like the idea of revealing the secrets of generations of Puppet Nin but this was important. _

"_Sometimes when someone is really strong-willed a puppet nin can have problems controlling that person. Because they can control their body, but not their minds or hearts yanno?"_

"_I see. Can she break free of the chakra strings?" Neji asked, a contemplative look on his face._

_Kankuro shrugged, "Maybe. Sometimes people can, as long as they have outside help."_

"_That's where I come in." Came a feminine voice behind then, they turned around._

"_Ino." Said Lee. _

"_If I could get inside her mind, I can set up a mind link and she can tell us what to do without Sasori knowing it." Explained Ino. "Lee can you watch my body for me?" She asked him._

"_I will guard your body with my life!" Lee proclaimed. _

_She nodded, "I know you will Lee." She said softly. They disappeared and Ino used her mind transfer jutsu. She found Tenten there, struggling inwardly to keep her body from moving, and from what Ino could tell, it was a losing battle. _

"_Ino what are you doing here?" I asked in shock. _

"_Tenten listen carefully. I'm going to set up a mind link between us, and you can tell us what we need to do without Sasori knowing it okay? We'll bring you back home soon girl! I promise!" _

"_Ino?" I asked before the blonde could start. Ino turned towards me. "Do me a favor? Tell Neji…" Ino waited expectantly for the declaration of love that was sure to come from the lively brunette. "Tell Neji to kill me." I said pointing to my heart. _

"_W-what?" Said Ino, who had clearly been caught off guard at her request. This clearly wasn't something she had expected to hear. _

"_Look what this psycho did to me! Even if you destroyed him and got me back there's no way to restore my body! I'm not human anymore Ino! I wanted children someday and a man who loves me! One I can-can actually touch! I've been robbed of all that! He took it all away! Please? Promise me!" I begged. _

_Ino finally recovered her voice, but it was quiet and subdued. "Ok Tenten, I promise I'll tell him-but I can't promise you that he'll do it." Tenten nodded, it was enough for now. _

_Lee frowned and shook wetness off his hand, he looked up to the sky, there wasn't a single cloud in it. He looked at Ino and saw tears running down her face. Deep in his gut, he felt that something awful was going to happen. _

_Ino began forming hand signs, "Yamanaka Mind-Link Jutsu!" She began threading her mind link from Tenten's to hers. When she came back, she connected the mind link to her teammates, but she stopped at Neji and beckoned him closer. He frowned and stepped up to her. She whispered in his ear what Tenten had asked of him. Neji was badly shaken at his teammate's request, but he understood what she was asking of him and why. He closed his eyes just for a moment, preparing himself to do this odious deed as Lee, Ino and Shino were ordered to fight with Deidara_

_I heard Ino's voice in my head. _

"_You ready girl?"_

"_Yes." I thought miserably and finally submitted to Sasori's commands._

_I shot senbon out of my fingers and made a mad dash, "Don't let the weapons so match as scratch you, they're doused in poisons." I warned Ino mentally, kicking Gai sensei in the chest, I felt really strange as I balled my fists and began punching at Kankuro with one good smash I ended up knocking out a tooth. He spat it out and I found myself facing Crow. _

"_Tell Kankuro to keep Crow out of range, see if he can severe my chakra strings next time I get close to him." I warned. Suddenly I turned towards Gai sensei as he knocked me backwards. Gathering chakra to my feet I managed to keep from toppling over and leaped out of the way._

"_Gai sensei look out!" I shrieked, feeling the poisoned blades open at my wrists and charged towards him. _

_Gai dodged it and leaped into the skies, he was behind me in a second and I dropped low to the ground and missed his kick. He landed on his hands, grabbed my neck with his feet and completed a back spring but not before I opened my mouth and burned him._

_He dropped and rolled on the ground to put out the fire, a large hole in his green jumpsuit exposed his blistering chest._

"_Good hit my young pupil, I've taught you well." He said as though trying to return to some sense of normalcy. It was, I realized that the gesture was for both of us._

_Suddenly I began moving rapidly and I recognized that Sasori was maneuvering me into the same trap I had used on him and Deidara._

_Neji gathered everyone close at my bidding and used his rotation as a shield for the group. I breathed a sigh of relief and felt myself taking off into the air._

_Gai gaped and even Neji seemed slightly taken aback when Tenten released her wings. They were beautiful, he realized, analyzing them with his Byakugan. The wings were made of white silk, tipped with gold and there were steel knives underneath in slots, which allowed them to be reloaded quickly like one of the guns they had once confiscated from a powerful mobster in a faraway city. He realized that the wings were meant to compliment Tenten. Steel wrapped in silk, with rapid firepower for her deadly accuracy. _

_She dove at us like an avenging angel and opened her mouth, fire shot out of it and at the same time under the cover of the thick black smoke in the air, shot out a seemingly endless stream of shuriken. We all leaped out of the way, as Tenten conveyed her thoughts to Ino who was busy fighting Deidara._

_Deidara let out a disgusted yelp and collapsed as Shino's swarm attacked him, covering his whole body and devouring his chakra. The missing Rock nin exploded killing more then half of the bug master's swarm and he came up from the sand, grinning sardonically._

_His dipped into the pouches at his hips and molded a swarm of his own, which he promptly split in half, if he was expecting a reaction from Shino he was disappointed. The bug master sent his swarm after the clay swarms but at the same time both executed their attacks and Shino was blown up._

"_Humph! That was easy!" Deidara grumbled and cursed when Shino grabbed him from behind._

"_A bug clone! Damn that's gross!" Deidara growled as he melted into mud. _

_Then Deidara's eyes went wide as he felt the insects invading his body! He dropped to the ground choking and heaving, unable to scream as they ate his chakra from the inside and killed him._

_Neji had finally gotten Tenten in range he gathered chakra to his hand to deliver the killing blow._

"_Forgive me Tenten." He thought, damming up his sorrow. He was so absorbed in getting a hit that he didn't even realize that Lee was behind him and hurled him out of the way. _

_Tenten took off again and hovered in midair like a hawk. Her wings begin flapping very quickly. Sharp, steel feathers dripping in poison began to shoot out and Tenten looked surprised! Sasori hadn't mentioned the steel blades in her wings! Suddenly out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ino who had moved to slowly get sliced, her arms up in a defensive gesture. _

"_Ino!" She shouted. The Yamanaka mind link was brutally shattered as Ino collapsed convulsing in the soft sand. _

_Tenten flew to Sasori and bent down on one knee gracefully, kissing his outstretched hand. She moved behind him, resenting the fact that she had no control over her body._

_Sasori gazed at the rescue party with a beatific smile on his beautiful, child-like face. Gai appeared in front of him and began breaking him to pieces, Sasori's tail lashed out, forcing him to retreat a safe distance away. Gai was very disconcerted when the pieces flew back to Sasori, making it look as though he hadn't been attacked at all._

_Lee came after the missing Sand nin who dodged easily and Tenten, seeing that she was momentarily free of her chakra strings used that moment to wrap her arms around Sasori and her wings closed around him. _

_Sasori smiled listening to the sound of human flesh hitting the hard metal feathers. He felt strange when the girl had shielded him of her volition. He hadn't felt so protected and…cherished since-his parents had been alive and he closed his eyes for a moment and allowed himself to lean back as Tenten took to the air. He felt her jostle him to get a more secure grip and suddenly found himself wrapped in her coils trap as she took his heart container and hissed in his ear. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer Sasori-san."_

_Sasori felt a sudden stab of pain at her betrayal but then he smiled as he recalled her words;_

"_You took it all away from me! You have no right! Mark my words Sasori! I'm going to kill you!!"_

"_Tenten stop!" Kankuro called out. _

_I jerked my head in the direction of the puppet nin's voice._

"_I understand you want revenge and you'll get it I swear! But Sasori has many crimes to answer for back in Suna."_

_Tenten stared at him in disbelief, mutiny flashing in her chocolate eyes, not noticing the chakra strings wrapping around her until she found herself landing on the ground, she was forced to walk over to Kankuro and followed them back to Sand. _

_I knew that Kankuro had come to rescue me, but I couldn't help the black hatred burning in my heart for constantly being at the whim of puppet nins! "Damn all puppet nins to hell!" I muttered viciously under my breath._

_Kankuro heard and gave me a wan smile, but didn't say a word._

_If the truth be told, Tsunade had prepared herself for Tenten's death. What she hadn't expected was for Tenten to be alive much less a living puppet like Sasori._

"_Lady Hokage!" Gai called out. "Ino's been poisoned and needs your help!" Tsunade shaken out of her stupor took the girl into the hospital room and immediately began drawing out poison to analyze them, the antidote was found quickly and fortunately Suna had the antidote in store._

"_She'll need rest and lots of fluids, get an iv drip and watch her. There may be permanent damage to her nerves and muscles but she'll pull through." Lady Hokage said in her brisk commanding voice._

_Sasori stared at the Kazekage who gazed back at him impassively._

"_Akasuna no Sasori, you will be executed with the many crimes you've committed against Sunagakure no Sato and the shinobi world in general. However the Hokage wishes to speak with you before your execution."_


	8. Act Eight Revelations

_Act Eight _

_Revelations_

_Authoress:_

_This is the grand finale, and I hope you all enjoy it_

_The Fifth Hokage stared coldly at Sasori as he sat in his prison cell, restrained by chakra draining cuffs on a cold metal chair. Most of Team Gai were there, barring Tenten who had begged the Hokage in private to be absent, claiming that she didn't want to be anywhere near Akasuna no Sasori. Tsunade would normally have forced her to go, but after what the kunoichi had been through she had agreed. _

"_So, Sasori. You know we'd be willing to strike a deal with you if you agreed to return Tenten back to the way she was."_

_Lee clenched his fist. "Strike a deal with him?! I will not allow it!" _

_Lady Tsunade glowered at Lee, though her heart went out to him. The idea of striking a deal with an Akatsuki member sat ill with her, but she could not allow Lee's emotions to get in the way. "Rock Lee, please be quiet or you will be forced to leave." She said. _

"_No! I will not be quiet I will-" Tsunade glanced at Neji, who struck a couple of pressure points and removed the green-clad ninja from the room. _

_I watched the small spectacle with a disinterested eye, finally turning towards the Hokage and said slowly and deliberately. _

"_Return her to the way she was? Now why would I want to do that? She is my greatest masterpiece and a true artist never destroys or allows others to destroy their greatest masterpiece." Here I winced and thought of Deidara, he had created some superb pieces of work and it had taken all my willpower not to turn away when they were destroyed in seconds. _

"_It would be pointless anyways, as her body and most of her organs have been…disposed of." Zetsu of course had been happy for the nourishment. _

"_This jutsu cannot be undone." If it could be undone, I might have undone it on myself instead of performing it on Tenten, then perhaps I could have experienced her the way Deidara had often talked about." _

_The look on Tsunade's face was thunderous, her fingers itching to take the box that contained his heart and smash it into little tiny splinters. Gai gulped, any one of his team could have suffered her fate. But for reasons unknown to him, he had chosen Tenten. _

"_Tenten!" Lee called out, Neji had undone his pressure points with a dire warning to at least pretend to be immobile by not barging back in. Lee had been surprised by Neji's actions and had not questioned them, or for once, disobeyed them. He ran to his teammate and threw his arms around her in a bear hug._

_Tenten shuddered, she'd never get used to this, being able to see but unable to feel, save for the rocking of her artificial body by the force of her teammate's body. Lee looked into her listless brown eyes, eyes devoid of happiness and devoid of hope. They were empty eyes, reminding him of Gaara's eyes when they had fought in the Chunin exams. Lee repressed the urge to shudder._

"_Why Tenten?" Gai asked out of the blue. _

_I frowned at the question. How many times had I asked myself that? Been asked by Deidara? Tenten? Yet I have never been able to answer the question in full. What made this bowl-headed monstrosity think that he would be able to pry the answers from my fevered mind? Much to my surprise I began to speak without thinking and for once I abandoned myself to my feelings. _

"_Because the moment I first laid eyes on her, I knew I had to have her." I began._

"_For her perfection…"_

_Gai saw Tenten's pride at finally being able to hit every target without missing._

"_For her grace…" _

_Gai clenched his teeth. Tenten in her own way had been every bit as graceful as Neji, a deadly dancer whose instinctive movements came as naturally to her as breathing._

"_For her swiftness…"_

_Gai saw Tenten's rapid movements in his mind's eye, manipulating her beloved weapons with the speed of a lightning bolt and shut his eyes in sorrow._

"_For her beauty…"_

_Gai saw Tenten smiling, laughing, crying, fighting, bringing joy to the team with her cheerful and eager demeanor and her kind heart. It was then that the man realized that he had made it to their early morning training with as much anticipation for Tenten's cheery attitude as he had for Lee's boundless enthusiasm. She was beautiful inside and out! He couldn't believe that it had taken a tragedy like this to make him see it!_

_Neji looked at the man in front of him and realized that the bastard was enjoying torturing them. His indifferent demeanor had all but disappeared to his eyes! He was deriving a sick pleasure from telling them this and the people around him were falling right into it. It was good that Lee had left the room. _

_I paused for a moment, realization dawning on me, it was the key to my obsession, opening the locked door and throwing it wide open to my view. _

"_And for her heart." _

_Neji blinked, "Excuse me?" He asked incredulously. _

_Sasori focused his empty, soft stare on the Hyuuga, eyes assessing him; his traits, his chakra, his power, his kekkai genkai, his weaknesses and his strengths, as though he were a prime weapon being considered for purchase. Neji remained calm, though the man's thoughts disturbed him._

"_Her heart." He repeated slowly. "She has something inside her- something that made me desire to be near her, hounding me with every second out of her presence, visions of her drove me insane every night. A dull, aching, empty feeling plagued me in my chest. I have been alone for a long time and when I saw her some part of me unknowingly understood that here was someone who was worthy enough to become mine."_

_The strength of Gai's hands splintered the wooden arms of the chair with the slightest clenching._

_Under different circumstances Neji might have been sorely tempted to laugh at what sounded like a cliché love confession found in some girl's cheesy romance novel. But instead he felt physically ill, rage and loathing and fascinated horror twisting in his gut and devouring him from the inside. He wanted desperately for Sasori to continue his lurid explanation and he wanted just as desperately to permanently silence him._

"_So I decided to make her just like me. To take the one person who complimented me so perfectly and make her mine for all of eternity. As long as my heart is beating, she is mine. Even if you kill me, she will still be mine." _

_Neji frowned. His voice had lost that soft, unfeeling quality and had became passionate and animated._

_Gai snapped. Neji grimaced, he had never see that look on his sensei's face in all the days that he had known him! It was almost frightening!_

"_You sick demented bastard! She is not one of your little toys! She is a human being!" He balled his fists and raced across the room with the intent to completely destroy this demon and send him into oblivion! _

_In one powerful strike, Tsunade felled Maito Gai as easily as a horse swatted a fly. "That's enough Gai." She said quietly, despite the power of her blow._

"_She's not human anymore." I informed the man, smiling down at his prone body._

_The Hokage was furious and stalked out of the room._

"_Tenten! I have been so worried about you!" Lee said, tears flooding freely down his cheeks._

_I didn't respond to his tears. I felt nothing now, except for a driving urge to end it all. I placed a wooden hand on my teammate's shoulder, watching Lee's muscles twitch as reinforced wood and metal met solid flesh. _

"_Please Lee." I said, her voice soft and slightly raspy, reminding Lee of the soft hiss of Gaara's sand. "I need to be alone for a while." _

_Lee nodded, suddenly glad to be out of her presence, though he prayed fervently that she had not noticed his sudden relief…or his guilt. _

_I slipped away early that morning and stole the compartment of Sasori's heart, drawing in deep shaky breaths as I prepared myself for what I was about to do and walked quietly towards Sasori's holding cell, quickly knocking out the guards and dragging them to a safe place. I took the key and opened the door. _

_I looked up at the sudden source of light and noise and smiled when I saw her standing there. She walked towards me and my eyes widened with shock when she showed my heart's container. I saw that in her other hand she had hers. She flung them into the air and with rapid succession pinned both containers to the wall opposite my cell._

_I turned towards Sasori and straddled his lap. _

"_You may not feel this but…perhaps you'll enjoy it anyways." I said, kissing him deeply, tongue sweeping around his mouth in slow circles, licking and nipping at his lips, before leaning back to study his expression, it was obvious Sasori wasn't sure what to make of my behavior. _

_I watched her warily, unable to comprehend her strange behavior. I searched her chocolate eyes and saw foreign emotions there, it took me a moment to recognize them as a sort of sad relief. _

_I turned around in his lap and began throwing kunai at the hearts, taking grim pleasure in the way his body tensed whenever I got too close for comfort to his heart. When I had finished I moved my head over to let him look._

_When she had finished she leaned over and I leaned forward, scrutinizing the kunais' unique pattern carefully. I recognized the kanji after a few seconds of uncertainty. _

"_Fleeting." I whispered under my breath._

_She curled up in my lap, resting her head on my shoulder and nuzzling my neck. _

"_Sasori?" She said softly. "Do you remember all those times you told me that we'd be together for eternity? You told me how stubborn I was being and that I should learn to accept that my fate was by your side."_

_I nodded at her, not liking where this was going. Her hand strayed, stroking my hair and nuzzling me. _

"_Now I'm going to give you a lesson. One that you're going to learn a lot faster then me. One that Deidara already knows… do you know what that lesson is?" She paused for a moment and then whispered in my ear "Nothing lasts forever Sasori." She closed her eyes and I felt a tremor of fear rack her body as she fisted my cloak. _

_They were both gone in an instant. _

"_Tenten stop! Don't!" Rock Lee cried as he was running full speed while Neji was desperately trying to keep up with his distraught teammate. Byakugan activated, Neji could see Tenten's chakra spiking inside._

"_Lee! Wait! Stop! Move out of the way!" Neji cried as he tackled Lee sideways-BOOM!_

_It wasn't a large explosion by any means, but it had left a hole in the upper wall and both jounin peered inside; each bracing themselves for the awful reality of seeing the various body parts of their teammate and the Akatsuki member scattered all over the floor. _

_Kunai and rubble littered the ground, but what they saw when they looked into the cell stunned them the most. The two looked oddly peaceful. Tenten was curled up in Sasori's lap, feet tucked under her, fisting his cloak. Her head was on his shoulder. Sasori's head was lolling back, eyes closed and his mouth was open, giving them the appearance that they had fallen asleep in each other's arms. _

"_Well…I guess we won't have to bother with that sick bastard's execution now." Came Temari's voice from behind them. Temari had never seen Neji look so downcast, Lee was bawling loudly._

_Neji opened his mouth and the Sand kunoichi waved him off, "I don't think anybody's gonna be upset…about this I mean!" Then she said softly, "I would have done the same thing if I'd been in her place."_

_They held Tenten's funeral a few days later after they returned to Konoha. Tenten's family stood quietly, some were crying, some stared in morbid fascination at her puppet body. Her headband was tied securely and her scroll with all of her beloved weapons inside were being buried with her. Lee and Gai sensei were sobbing uncontrollably and the Hokage was staring down at Tenten with a fierce scowl on her face. Neji knew she was mentally cursing the Akatsuki for robbing them of another of their shinobi and she was cursing Sasori for robbing Tenten of her body. But at least Tenten had died as a true kunoichi and taken him down with her. She deserved her revenge. Suna had not been upset over the small hole in the wall, the guards did not hold a grudge, all claiming they would have done the same thing in her place._

_Neji was the last to leave the grave, he had really begun to care for Tenten; enough to want to pursue a romantic relationship with her in another year so. The Hyuuga liked to take personal relationships very slowly, but he was now beginning to regret that. He wondered if she'd ever known how he felt about her before she died. For a brief moment he felt her hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see her standing there, a bright sparkling smile on her face. He activated his Byakugan and caught his breath! This was no genjutsu! This was a ghost! And somehow…she seemed content._

"_Tenten…I…what in the world?" She leaned forward and gave him a deep kiss. When he opened his eyes she was walking away, Sasori, who was no longer a puppet appeared behind her and glared at the Hyuuga. Neji saw the faint blue glow of chakra strings attached from his fingers to her body. _

"_Tenten?" He asked. She gave him a confused look and rolled her eyes in good-natured exasperation before they faded away into the dazzling sunlight. _

_Authoress_

_About the ending_

_I know it didn't make too much sense… _

_The only thing I could really think of was that _

_Sasori's strong bond of manic obsession and the fact that they died together tied them to each other in death._

_I couldn't see it happening any other way_

_After all Sasori usually gets what he wants._

_It just seemed fitting somehow._


End file.
